


Mashed Potatoes

by danehemmings



Series: Spilled Pumpkin Juice [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 13:28:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20797373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danehemmings/pseuds/danehemmings
Summary: Severus 'meets the parents'. Except it's not James' parents; it's his friends.





	Mashed Potatoes

**Author's Note:**

> Sirius might not be depicted in the best light but that's just Sev's viewpoint, not mine. I love Padfoot with my whole heart. Maybe he and Sev can see eye to eye someday, who knows?
> 
> Thanks for reading!

The silence is deafening. Severus has read that line thousands of times, but he’s sure he didn’t understand what it meant until this moment.

After a month of meeting up in odd places to snog, James had decided they were ready to take the ‘next step’. Severus had agreed to this too enthusiastically, distracted by how amber James’ irises looked in the sun. Potter the prick knew how to trick him, apparently.

The next step was lunch with James’ gaggle of idiots. Severus hated that he liked James enough to be sitting here, across from Sirius Black, who looked every bit the evil hag his mother was reputed to be. It wouldn’t have been so bad, if James, Lupin and Pettigrew hadn’t been stuck late with McGonagall.

Severus can face Black, if James is there. Its happened several times already since he and James started dating. They’ll be having a nice time, and suddenly Black will appear to interrupt. Severus personally thinks its too petty, even for Black, to wander around the castle looking for them. But James gets furious everytime, and insists Black can and is following them.

James isn’t very pleasant when he’s furious, and they’ll part soon after Black interrupts. Severus had found that his opinion of Black can in fact, keep getting worse. He and James are getting along so well, occasionally conversing without any disagreements, until Black shows his face.

He certainly hopes James isn’t expecting him to make an effort with Black. There’s no one in this school that’s treated him more poorly than Black, and so it’s Black who needs to be begging Severus for forgiveness. Severus will endure this unbearable silence for James, but he’ll kiss the giant squid before he attempts to start a conversation with this brat.

Black seems to read his thoughts. “So, Snivellous, how’s dating my best mate going for you?”

It’s not an insulting question. It’s not offensive in the slightest, but Black delivers the words with more malice than Severus thought humans were capable of.

“Quite well, thank you,” Severus says. Not nice, but not rude enough to bother James, if he were here. 

He hopes for Black to let the conversation die there, but of course Black doesn’t. 

“I’ve noticed, you know,” Black puts his elbows on the table as he leans forward, narrowly missing the bowl of mashed potatoes to his left.

“Spectacular.”

“You parade James around like he’s some trophy-”

“I do not,” Severus interrupts. Black’s eyes flash, and Severus curses himself for taking the bait.

“This is just some game to you, to get back at Prongs,” Black’s head whips around as the doors to the Great Hall open, but it’s only some first year Ravenclaws. “I won’t let you break his heart just because you’re a spiteful git.”

“You think that I would subject myself to your presence purely as part of an elaborate plan to hurt James?”

“Yes!” Black says, “Don’t act so surprised that I think so little of you.”

Severus is fuming. As if he would be the one to pull a stupid prank. That was the only thing that Black himself was good at. Pulling pranks and being insufferable. Severus wants to leave. Dating James Potter was enough of a miracle in of itself, he wasn’t going to ask for another to help him get along with Black. He lets his eyes wander over to the Slytherin table, where no Gryffindor would ever bother to sit, but he can’t make himself go. He’d promised James he’d be at this lunch.

Black notices his look towards the Slytherins, and he grins the same way he does when he’s got Severus upside down in the air.

“Yeah, run back to your little gang and tell them your plan’s not-”

“What are we talking about?” James sits down besides Severus and gives them his winning smile. Severus makes a point to entwine their hands on top of the table, so Black can see.

Lupin and Pettigrew seat themselves on either side of Black, and Severus thinks of those muggle shows Lily likes, where the cops interrogate people. Lupin and Pettigrew are decidedly less chipper than James, and although Lupin nods in greeting.

Neither Severus nor Black answer James’ question, and they fall again into uncomfortable silence. Black can’t take his eyes off their joined hands. Pettigrew scopes some potatoes onto his plate and doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes. James is tapping his thumb against Severus’.

James is the one who insisted that this was necessary, and now he’s practically cowering underneath Black’s stare. Severus grinds his teeth together. James should be smoothing things over, making conversation and convincing his mates that this relationship isn’t anything nefarious.

Lupin seems to think so, too. He opens his mouth several times, but closes it after glancing at Black.

Severus squeezes James’ hand, hard, and says, “How have classes been going, Lupin?”

It’s terribly awful. He doesn’t care about Lupin’s classes, and everyone knows it. But, Lupin looks relieved.

“They’ve been hard, haven’t they?” Lupin says, “I thought we’d have it easy after OWLs last year.”

“We’ve still got NEWTS to prepare for,” Severus says. 

“Uh, yeah!” James’ hand is getting sweaty. 

“Anyways,” Lupin says breezily, “I want you to know that I don’t have any issue with you and James dating.”

Severus blinks. All he had to do to impress the werewolf was make small talk?  
Black scowls. “That makes one of us.”

“Oh, come off it!” James says. Severus squeezes his hand again and tries to convey that it’s okay. He doesn’t care if the maggot Black hates him, he hates the maggot.

“Two-two of us!” Pettigrew pipes up. His head swivels between James and Lupin, looking for support. He gets it from both of them in the form of smiles. Severus thinks that’s stupid, because Pettigrew has made eye contact with him less than he can count on one hand in all the years they’ve known each other. 

But- two out of three of James’ best mates aren’t going to mess with his and James’ relationship, so Severus shoves his doubts away. 

“I appreciate that,” Severus says with as much sincerity as he can muster. He ignores Black’s scoffing.

James appears much more relaxed now, and everyone joins Pettigrew in eating lunch. They keep on with the stilted small talk- about classes, about how his and James’ first date went (“We made you late?” Lupin was aghast.). Black remains silent and sulky.

The lunch period ends before Black gets too tetchy. James and Severus linger just outside the Great Hall while everyone else rushes off to class.

“He’ll come around, you know,” James says. “He’s doing what he thinks is best for me.”

Severus glances around to ensure no Slytherins are looking, then pulls James into his arms. 

“I don’t care if he never comes around.”

James snorts into his shoulder. “You’re never this affectionate.”

Severus lets go as if James is burning him. “Fine, then. See you later.”

“Wait, wait,” James is laughing now. “Sirius might still be around! I think you need to establish dominance by kissing me!”

“You think that’s what I was doing?” Severus is not in competition with Black. They aren’t fighting over James, they’re fighting because Black is a bull-headed ass.

“Sev, I don’t think we’ve ever held hands for so long.” 

Severus wants to object, but he can’t. His only defense is say he held James’ hand because he just wanted to, and true or not that is just as bad at trying to get under Black’s skin. He settles for silence.

James grins, and he doesn’t say anything either. Severus had told him he talks too much last week. James surprisingly pays attention to things like that. He’s stopped trying to fill any silence that comes up between them. At least not with words, anyways.

Severus lets James worm his way back into his arms. Their still just standing out in the open, and people are looking. Severus buries his face into James’ hair to he doesn’t have to look at them looking. It’s not like they’re a secret, but Severus is generally repulsed by PDA. 

“You were right,” James says, full volume and directly into Severus’ ear. “Silence can be comfortable.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you were wondering, Sirius is in fact using the Marauder's Map to ruin James/Sev's dates, and he is that petty.


End file.
